At what point would the Rangers consider trading Adrian Beltre?

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Texas Rangers Adrian Beltre acknowledges the crowd as he comes out of a baseball game during the fifth inning against the Oakland Athletics in Arlington, Texas, Sunday, Oct. 1, 2017. (AP Photo/LM Otero)

Evan Grant, Rangers beat writer for SportsDayDFW.com and The Dallas Morning News, answered your questions about the team during a live chat recently. Here are some highlights.

Question: How far out of contention need to be to trade away Beltre? If they are in the exact same place they were this year, does he go like Darvish?

Grant: I don't know what the exact answer is to this, but I think it will become evident as the season progresses. Let's put it this way: I don't expect the Rangers to be in contention for the AL West title in July. I expect Houston to have a significant lead. Now, the wild card is a wholly different matter. I would guess that if you are 5+ games back in the Wild Card race at that point, you are out of it. The Rangers were 5.5 games back of the second wild card spot on July 31 this year when they traded Darvish.

Question: Would JD bring Moreland back for the right price, or is the depth at 1st base already enough with Gallo and Rua?

Grant: First base is not a priority. Not with Gallo, Rua, Drew Robinson, Ronald Guzman and Jurickson Profar all still on the roster. The Rangers priorities are multiple starting pitchers, a back-end-of-the-bullpen veteran reliever, possibly a center fielder and maybe some improved corner outfield defense. Sure, there are some nice first base options out there and Moreland might be somewhat cost effective, but the Rangers just don't have the dollars to spread around.

Question: Would you rather sign Lance Lynn or Alex Cobb in free agency?

Grant: I've looked at this a little bit lately because both guys numbers from 2017 are pretty similar and both were coming back from injuries. Both are 30. Here is what makes Cobb more attractive to me: He's got more AL experience, he walks fewer guys per nine innings and he's got almost 300 fewer big league innings of stress on his arm. Also, look at the batting average on balls in play for both guys. Lynn's was .248, well below league average, meaning that perhaps his results were also factored by the "luck" of more guys making more plays behind him. Cobb's was .283, which is much more in line with league averages. The theory is that Cobb's numbers are a little more "true." For me, Cobb has a slight edge. But either one of those guys is probably the top of the Rangers' free agent market (Ohtani being in a totally different class). These guys should get somewhere in the $13-16 million range for 4 years or so. The Rangers aren't going to play on guys who are going to earn $20 million or more and command 5-year or longer deals.

Question: How much, if any, of the blame for this past season's disappointing Rangers record is Jon Daniels' responsibility? Jeff Banister?

Grant: I don't think ownership has a formula for determining what percentage of the fault belongs to the GM and what belongs to the manager. What I can say is that both will say they bear significant responsibility. That's what accountability is. On Daniels' end, I'm sure he is recounting whether he put together a roster too laden with strikeouts to be consistent. On Banister's end, the communication with staff and players must improve; both Daniels and the manager are on the record saying that. But the biggest single flaw in the 2017 team was the bullpen. It was a disaster. And there was zero way to predict that during spring training. The core of the 'pen looked absolutely dominant. It's another reminder that spring training is good for getting guys ready for the season; it is not an accurate way to evaluate players or performance.